The tour sounds great fun. I may not arrive until Thursday morning, which means I'll miss half of it, which might further damage my joining-in, since there are certain things I definitely want to see. Namely Sam Adams (and Harpoon if it's worth it), Cheers Bar, Harvard and MIT. The historical stuff I'd be into, but it's not a deal-breaker.
Also, as mentioned above, I'm a big fan of going to shows, and would love to get the chance to see a concert while I'm there, if there's anything notable on. I'm talking more on the independent circuit than a stadium thing. Guess there'll be PAX-specific concerts anyhow.
This has been on hold for a bit, but now that the holidays are over, we need to start going on this in full force! I'm working on setting up the voting site right now. Does anyone have any more suggestions of places to visit/things to do before I throw up the link to the voting?
Assuming that the Harvard Museum encompasses a stroll around Harvard, this all sounds good. I beg of you to schedule all the great stuff for Thursday, please. Pleased that the Freedom Trail is 90 minutes, that makes it seem a whole lot more doable, for sure.
Assuming that the Harvard Museum encompasses a stroll around Harvard, this all sounds good. I beg of you to schedule all the great stuff for Thursday, please. Pleased that the Freedom Trail is 90 minutes, that makes it seem a whole lot more doable, for sure.
You know why you're not suppose to assume! (ass = u and me)
Joking aside, the Harvard Museum doesn't include a tour of the campus. And it looks like they aren't giving tours while the MMT is in town. However, if the group does go to the museum, you could go with us and just walk around the campus while we're there.
Thursday is always more popular than Wednesday, so it's likely the more popular destinations will happen then. You just have to hope that you're idea of the best stuff matches the overall group's :P
One of the reasons I haven't posted the link for the voting page is because I want to include a question to find out who's planning on attending which days. That way I can match the votes with the days and try to make the most accommodating schedule. I'm working on that with VT. Hopefully it will be up shortly!
Aye, as punzie said, I'm going to spend some time adding some much-needed renovations to last year's MMT Voting website. Just some bare essentials to make it a bit easier for the organizer to use as a real tool for registering... we'll keep you guys posted!
but I believe Storrow Dr is known for having a ton of clubs.
You might have Storrow Dr confused with another road - Storrow is that highway alongside the river.
perhaps you're thinking of lansdowne street? used to be full of clubs, many have closed in the last few years though. still plenty of bars and, of course, the brand new house of blues.
if you're looking for nightlife, i personally tend towards cambridge. charlie's kitchen in harvard square is always a good time, and central square has great cheap (often local, sometime bigger name) music at the middle east and tt the bear's. usually interesting stuff going on at the cantab lounge in central as well, including blues and poetry.
a note about transportation though: if you order your events just right, you may not need to take any kind of transportation beyond your own two feet. boston is a walking city, after all.
Trolley Tours/Ducks Tours, etc:
To me, the trolley tours don't look interesting at all. It looks like it's just an expensive way to see a bunch of stuff that's already on our list. We'll likely be seeing many of the sights and paying less. If people didn't want to pay $35-40 for a chartered bus last year, why would they want to pay $38 for a trolley this year? And, if I'm reading correctly, that price is only for 1 day, not 2. I don't dig the idea of being stuck on a trolley anyway. We miss the colorful locals, last minute divergences into shops/Dunks, etc. And you know what? I bet the trolley won't show you the nuclear bomb shelter. But I can :P I don't see it being something our group will want to do, but if people start showing interest in the trolley, I can put it on the voting list when we get to that point (that's why we're having all this discussion time first)
Duck tours are a little different.
1: they're cheaper.
2: it's more like 1 stop on our adventure and then we still get to do other things for the rest of the day.
However, we will NOT be doing the Duck Tours because they don't start until 2 weeks after PAX.
The F1 Boston does look like something people may enjoy (anyone else read "kart racing" and instantly think "live action Mario Kart"?). Cost and distance mean it likely won't make the cut, but I'll add it onto the potentials list.
Nuclear bomb shelter!? Awesome. I want to go on the tour, too. I'll keep an eye on this space so I know when to arrive. My sister and I planned on coming a few days early to see Boston and I can't think of a better way to do so than w/a bunch of like-minded (read = nerdly) people!
Nuclear Bomb Shelter? Are they talking about Gillette in Southie? When i worked there they had a few buildings that really did look like bomb shelters.
Nuclear Bomb Shelter? Are they talking about Gillette in Southie? When i worked there they had a few buildings that really did look like bomb shelters.
On a road just off the Common, there's an inconspicuous door with a very small sign labeling it as a nuclear bomb shelter. I did a doubletake when I first saw it.
Local here: I'd also suggest the Fenway park tours, even if you're not a big sports fan it's an amazing old park. THey do they year round.
If money's no object then Blue Man Group is defintely an experience. They have them elsewhere though so it's not a real "Boston only" thing.
You do NOT want to miss the north end. It's a little more difficult to get to as I believe there are only buses that go there, no Subway. If you like good italian food it's there, and there's plenty other things to do. One of my favorite cigar bars is down there.
If you are a history buff they do tours of Paul Revere's ride all the time.
Boston University (BU) does a astronomy night every Wed where you can check out the stars.
You can actually check out "Top of the hub" without grabbing a (very) expensive dinner. You can go up to the skywalk I believe for $12, or go into the resteraunt just for a desert (there $10 chocolate cake is delicious) and drink.
You can now vote on where we're going on the tour. Go to this site, make an account and get voting. When you sign up, please check which days you plan on attending. It will be a huge help when I make the schedule! Also, if you have any physical handicaps, food allergies, or anything else I may need to take into account, please use the box at the bottom of the sign-up page to let me know. This info (as well as your contact info) will be viewable by me, but not the general public. This is not the final official sign-up for the MMT but if you enter all pertinent info now, it will save you and I some time later.
Signed up, voted. I think a system of proportional representation would be best for the final vote. I'd love to visit the Public Library, but I'd prefer to visit Harpoon & Sam Adams if they came to a cut. A PR system would help that :-)
There's still a silly bug on the site: the first letter of each description is getting cut off for some reason. I haven't had the time to look at it yet, but consider it a brain teaser/secret puzzle until I get the time to fix it (hopefully Wednesday night?).
Is there a limit to the number of things you can vote for? I didn't see any indication of such, but I only voted for four things. We should implement some sort of limit so folks just can't go yes on everything.
Signed up, voted. I think a system of proportional representation would be best for the final vote. I'd love to visit the Public Library, but I'd prefer to visit Harpoon & Sam Adams if they came to a cut. A PR system would help that :-)
You know, I think VT mentioned to me at one point that it was set up so you could vote up to 3 times on each item, but I've played with it and repeated up votes don't seem to alter the tally. We'll have to ask him about that.
Remember, you can change your votes at any time. And you aren't limited to up votes! So if you have a mild interest in something, you can give it a maybe. And when we get close to closing the voting (planning for Feb. 8th, but you'll get a warning ahead of time), if some things look like they might be tied or something you want might not make the cut, you can adjust your voting to try to change things.
(Side note: I feel confident we'll be visiting at least one of the breweries.)
Looks liked you checked off that you're attending Wednesday now too. Are you now thinking you'll be there both days?
There's still a silly bug on the site: the first letter of each description is getting cut off for some reason. I haven't had the time to look at it yet, but consider it a brain teaser/secret puzzle until I get the time to fix it (hopefully Wednesday night?).
Don't feel rushed to fix it! I don't think it's an issue. The information is all there if you click the details/more link.
Is there a limit to the number of things you can vote for? I didn't see any indication of such, but I only voted for four things. We should implement some sort of limit so folks just can't go yes on everything.
I don't believe there is a limit. It'd be silly to vote yes for everything. You might as well not vote at all. It just means the tour would be dictated by those people who voted on just the items they really wanted.
We can ask the opinion of our resident code master. VT, thoughts?
Oh, nay: you can only vote once on each location... at the moment. We'd have to think of a system that would work well if we want people to assign more than one vote to a single location each... for instance, we could give people X number of "points" and they could put up to Y of them in a single location, or spread it out until they've exhausted their point supply... we'd have to think about what would be best, and then I'd need some time to code it up!
It would be an interesting idea though... and if the site actually turns into a useful tool, I'd definitely be willing to make it happen. (Mostly due to a lack of other features, the website wasn't terribly useful for us at East last year: and MMT Prime has never used it... though if I made it easier to toggle to the next tour or add support for multiple tours at once it might help in that matter)
And indeed, also there's no limit on how many locations you can vote for: just remember that the more locations you vote for, the more you dilute the quality of your individual vote. For example, if you *really* want to go to Location A, but you also vote for C, D, and E... well, your vote for C, D, or E might end up pushing them above Location A and we end up not going to A as a result! So vote for the ones you really want to go to! A person who votes up every location has essentially cancelled out their vote.
Also, remember that with the current system you also have downvotes: if there's a place you really don't want to go, downvote it and you'll subtract a point from its total. With a combination of upvotes for places you truly want to go to, downvotes for places you truly don't, and abstaining from voting on places you're ambivalent toward, you should be able to reflect pretty well what you do and don't want to go to.
Oh, nay: you can only vote once on each location... at the moment. We'd have to think of a system that would work well if we want people to assign more than one vote to a single location each... for instance, we could give people X number of "points" and they could put up to Y of them in a single location, or spread it out until they've exhausted their point supply... we'd have to think about what would be best, and then I'd need some time to code it up!
I don't think that's necessary. You can leave it how it is.
And indeed, also there's no limit on how many locations you can vote for: just remember that the more locations you vote for, the more you dilute the quality of your individual vote. For example, if you *really* want to go to Location A, but you also vote for C, D, and E... well, your vote for C, D, or E might end up pushing them above Location A and we end up not going to A as a result! So vote for the ones you really want to go to! A person who votes up every location has essentially cancelled out their vote.
Trading cards!
I would like to make a trading card for the MMT, but I don't do any photoshopping/computer graphics/what have you. Is anyone willing to jump in help design our card?
Update!
We owe a huge thanks to the fabulously wonderful Menolly07! She took all my so-so ideas, made them usable, and turned them into our trading card. If you come on the MMT this year, you'll get a card!
And a reminder: we are about halfway through our month of location-voting. We currently have 10 people signed up. So far, the Sam Adams Brewery is the number 1 choice with 9 votes and the Museum of Science is next with 7 votes. If you want to go or know someone who does, share your opinion! Sign up and vote.http://mmt.vthornheart.railsplayground.net/
For anyone making personal trading cards for East, I'm changing the image you put on the front of your card to show you're doing the MMT. The new image is:
The Trading Card thread should be updated with the new picture tomorrow.
5pm Wednesday? It looks like we'll have 1 evening/night activity on Wednesday and you can spend Thursday with us. Even if you'll only be with us part of the time, you can still vote on where you want to go. Just check the appropriate days/times you'll be attending when you sign up.
Oh good, glad the badge worked out. I was worried the edges wouldn't be smoothed enough in the transparency. I'm finicky, picky, anally retentive.. Prone to frustrated fits of violent rage at Photoshop and damaging beatings of laptops, desktops and sometimes stuffed animals........... and shots. Prone to shots. Miss a pixel. Take a shot.
Menolly07 on
Still PAXing strong. [E] for lyfe. ELand forever.
twitter.com/Menolly07
Updates!
- Kropotkin is going to send me some of the Forum Badges to distribute during the MMT. If you want your name on the back (all the cool kids do!), make sure to tell me you plan on attending. I will be sending him a list of names when voting closes on Feb. 8th. (Check the OP to make sure your name is on the list of attendees.)
- We will not be going to Blue Man Group unless we have 15+ people who want to go. Right now we have 6/7. If you want to go, make sure you vote/let me know soon.
- Voting closes Feb 8. That's 1 week from tomorrow. So far, 12 people have voted and the Museum of Science and Sam Adams Brewery are tied for the number 1 place people want to visit. Make sure to get your opinion heard! http://mmt.vthornheart.railsplayground.net
The Blue Man Group is super awesome: I won't be able to make it as I'm only going Thursday (and on Thursday I have pub crawl-related duties), but I encourage anyone who can to do it!
Final Warning!
Voting closes tomorrow night, midnight(ish) EST. I'll then be using the votes AS IS to put together the schedule. Take this time to make last adjustments to your votes and make sure you've correctly marked when you will be attending (one or both days). (And yes, the dates in the header on the site are incorrect. The tour takes place March 9th and 10th.)
Posts
Also, as mentioned above, I'm a big fan of going to shows, and would love to get the chance to see a concert while I'm there, if there's anything notable on. I'm talking more on the independent circuit than a stadium thing. Guess there'll be PAX-specific concerts anyhow.
Gaming blog
@lamournumerique
Bright Eyes plays at House of Blues March 10th though, if that tickles your fancy.
Much excited to see the city-- and freeze to deaaaath.
House of Blues site event listing
Gaming blog
@lamournumerique
Gaming blog
@lamournumerique
You know why you're not suppose to assume! (ass = u and me)
Joking aside, the Harvard Museum doesn't include a tour of the campus. And it looks like they aren't giving tours while the MMT is in town. However, if the group does go to the museum, you could go with us and just walk around the campus while we're there.
Thursday is always more popular than Wednesday, so it's likely the more popular destinations will happen then. You just have to hope that you're idea of the best stuff matches the overall group's :P
One of the reasons I haven't posted the link for the voting page is because I want to include a question to find out who's planning on attending which days. That way I can match the votes with the days and try to make the most accommodating schedule. I'm working on that with VT. Hopefully it will be up shortly!
Gaming blog
@lamournumerique
That's the plan! Then I'm going to try to steal your lunchers to come wreak havoc with us for the afternoon! :twisted:
Not only do I support this, but I shall allow myself to be stolen too!
perhaps you're thinking of lansdowne street? used to be full of clubs, many have closed in the last few years though. still plenty of bars and, of course, the brand new house of blues.
if you're looking for nightlife, i personally tend towards cambridge. charlie's kitchen in harvard square is always a good time, and central square has great cheap (often local, sometime bigger name) music at the middle east and tt the bear's. usually interesting stuff going on at the cantab lounge in central as well, including blues and poetry.
a note about transportation though: if you order your events just right, you may not need to take any kind of transportation beyond your own two feet. boston is a walking city, after all.
Nuclear Bomb Shelter? Are they talking about Gillette in Southie? When i worked there they had a few buildings that really did look like bomb shelters.
On a road just off the Common, there's an inconspicuous door with a very small sign labeling it as a nuclear bomb shelter. I did a doubletake when I first saw it.
If money's no object then Blue Man Group is defintely an experience. They have them elsewhere though so it's not a real "Boston only" thing.
You do NOT want to miss the north end. It's a little more difficult to get to as I believe there are only buses that go there, no Subway. If you like good italian food it's there, and there's plenty other things to do. One of my favorite cigar bars is down there.
If you are a history buff they do tours of Paul Revere's ride all the time.
Boston University (BU) does a astronomy night every Wed where you can check out the stars.
You can actually check out "Top of the hub" without grabbing a (very) expensive dinner. You can go up to the skywalk I believe for $12, or go into the resteraunt just for a desert (there $10 chocolate cake is delicious) and drink.
That sounds awesome! The website doesn't say if there's a fee or not. Do you know?
You can now vote on where we're going on the tour. Go to this site, make an account and get voting. When you sign up, please check which days you plan on attending. It will be a huge help when I make the schedule! Also, if you have any physical handicaps, food allergies, or anything else I may need to take into account, please use the box at the bottom of the sign-up page to let me know. This info (as well as your contact info) will be viewable by me, but not the general public.
This is not the final official sign-up for the MMT but if you enter all pertinent info now, it will save you and I some time later.
I plan to keep voting open for about a month.
Ahh yes, I forgot the most important part. It's free
Gaming blog
@lamournumerique
I never finish anyth
You know, I think VT mentioned to me at one point that it was set up so you could vote up to 3 times on each item, but I've played with it and repeated up votes don't seem to alter the tally. We'll have to ask him about that.
Remember, you can change your votes at any time. And you aren't limited to up votes! So if you have a mild interest in something, you can give it a maybe. And when we get close to closing the voting (planning for Feb. 8th, but you'll get a warning ahead of time), if some things look like they might be tied or something you want might not make the cut, you can adjust your voting to try to change things.
(Side note: I feel confident we'll be visiting at least one of the breweries.)
Looks liked you checked off that you're attending Wednesday now too. Are you now thinking you'll be there both days?
Don't feel rushed to fix it! I don't think it's an issue. The information is all there if you click the details/more link.
I don't believe there is a limit. It'd be silly to vote yes for everything. You might as well not vote at all. It just means the tour would be dictated by those people who voted on just the items they really wanted.
We can ask the opinion of our resident code master. VT, thoughts?
My plan is to change my votes as I learn more about each location or just change my mind over time.
I'm a fool. I misread my dates, and will only be there for the Thursday. Will try to amend this now.
EDIT: Dates amendidoed
Gaming blog
@lamournumerique
It would be an interesting idea though... and if the site actually turns into a useful tool, I'd definitely be willing to make it happen. (Mostly due to a lack of other features, the website wasn't terribly useful for us at East last year: and MMT Prime has never used it... though if I made it easier to toggle to the next tour or add support for multiple tours at once it might help in that matter)
And indeed, also there's no limit on how many locations you can vote for: just remember that the more locations you vote for, the more you dilute the quality of your individual vote. For example, if you *really* want to go to Location A, but you also vote for C, D, and E... well, your vote for C, D, or E might end up pushing them above Location A and we end up not going to A as a result! So vote for the ones you really want to go to! A person who votes up every location has essentially cancelled out their vote.
Also, remember that with the current system you also have downvotes: if there's a place you really don't want to go, downvote it and you'll subtract a point from its total. With a combination of upvotes for places you truly want to go to, downvotes for places you truly don't, and abstaining from voting on places you're ambivalent toward, you should be able to reflect pretty well what you do and don't want to go to.
I don't think that's necessary. You can leave it how it is.
Explained much better than how I stated it.
I would like to make a trading card for the MMT, but I don't do any photoshopping/computer graphics/what have you. Is anyone willing to jump in help design our card?
We owe a huge thanks to the fabulously wonderful Menolly07! She took all my so-so ideas, made them usable, and turned them into our trading card. If you come on the MMT this year, you'll get a card!
And a reminder: we are about halfway through our month of location-voting. We currently have 10 people signed up. So far, the Sam Adams Brewery is the number 1 choice with 9 votes and the Museum of Science is next with 7 votes. If you want to go or know someone who does, share your opinion! Sign up and vote. http://mmt.vthornheart.railsplayground.net/
Shock, surprise, consternation, alarm
I never finish anyth
The Trading Card thread should be updated with the new picture tomorrow.
Anyone have crash space for Tuesday night...? X)
5pm Wednesday? It looks like we'll have 1 evening/night activity on Wednesday and you can spend Thursday with us. Even if you'll only be with us part of the time, you can still vote on where you want to go. Just check the appropriate days/times you'll be attending when you sign up.
twitter.com/Menolly07
(She's also making the trading card for the Cookie Brigade this year
twitter.com/Menolly07
- Kropotkin is going to send me some of the Forum Badges to distribute during the MMT. If you want your name on the back (all the cool kids do!), make sure to tell me you plan on attending. I will be sending him a list of names when voting closes on Feb. 8th. (Check the OP to make sure your name is on the list of attendees.)
- We will not be going to Blue Man Group unless we have 15+ people who want to go. Right now we have 6/7. If you want to go, make sure you vote/let me know soon.
- Voting closes Feb 8. That's 1 week from tomorrow. So far, 12 people have voted and the Museum of Science and Sam Adams Brewery are tied for the number 1 place people want to visit. Make sure to get your opinion heard! http://mmt.vthornheart.railsplayground.net
Voting closes tomorrow night, midnight(ish) EST. I'll then be using the votes AS IS to put together the schedule. Take this time to make last adjustments to your votes and make sure you've correctly marked when you will be attending (one or both days). (And yes, the dates in the header on the site are incorrect. The tour takes place March 9th and 10th.)
http://mmt.vthornheart.railsplayground.net/